Regal Financial Bank announced today it is no longer operating under an enforcement order placed on it in late 2009.

The order, known as a consent order, was placed on the bank in November 2009 by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). The bank was required to clean up its money laundering compliance system and enhance its oversight of relationships with third parties, among other things.

A spokeswoman, Jeanne Chang, said the order was lifted Oct. 19 after regulators determined the bank met all the conditions of the order, which all related to compliance.

Regal Financial Bank has struggled through the financial crisis. Regulators issued it a separate enforcement order, known as a cease and desist order, two months before the 2009 consent order that told it to boost its capital and clean up bad loans.

Chang said the cease and desist order is still active. She said the bank is currently in the process of a private offering to raise $12 million in new capital.

The bank was tagged in two lawsuits in 2009 and 2010, in which a group of Indonesian investors accused Regal Financial and its former CEO of running a Ponzi scheme that bilked the investors of $600 million. Regal and the former CEO denied wrongdoing in the case and the both suits have been dismissed.

I spoke to Randy James, the bank's chairman and CEO today, who told me Regal Financial has essentially been gutted and built back up with a completely new management team and new investors. It closed down all of its offices with the exception of its Seattle headquarters and went from 39 employees to 18, most of whom are new to Regal.

"We have completely restructured this bank," he said. "I think it's a very exciting time to be in banking ... we have a lot of room to grow."

He added that he is pleased the consent order is lifted, in part because it frees up other resources that were previously dedicated to getting the bank in line with the order's conditions.

Regal Financial has one branch, in Seattle. It has $101 million in assets, according to the FDIC.